pub

Hotel Royal

- Alex Leave a comment

 

 

date of visit: Saturday 19 November 2011

A recent, quickly organised, family get together saw a group of 8 of us book ourselves into the Hotel Royal, on Henley Beach Road, for a late lunch/afternoon tea. Our main requirement was that wherever we went had to be close to my grandma’s house and capable of accommodating an age range from less than 1 to more than 90. So our focus was less than gastronomic!

The hotel advised it was best to book but when we arrived at 2pm the bistro was mostly empty and our table hadn’t been set up. Only one person was manning the bar and I felt a bit sorry for him because he seemed a little bit run off his feet. He apologised for our table not being set up and rushed off to get us a high chair, then taking the time to wipe it over in front of us (it already looked spotless).

We all settled in and got down to the important business of talking, followed by deciding what to eat. While the Hotel Royal doesn’t offer coffee and cakes, as such, if you are there during service hours (lunch is 12-3pm) you are more than welcome to order from the dessert menu. So you can sort of do afternoon tea. This flexibility worked really well for us – I ordered the sticky toffee pudding, two people shared the whiting, we had serve of chips, and some people shared dips. Quite a mish-mash!

The food wasn’t perfect – but then it was exactly what you’d expect from a reasonably standard pub menu. The portion of whiting was generous, if a little too heavy on the batter. The vanilla ice cream with the sticky toffee pudding was definitely the best part of the dish – the pudding itself was a strange combination of being a little too stodgy but also a little too springy. But it was also only $6.50.

While some aspects of the service were a little slow (for example, the menus took a little while to arrive) as a rule the service was very good. The young man behind the bar, who did most of the work, was pleasant and extremely helpful. Without prompting he brought out children’s and seniors’ menus and when unable to find a cushion for my grandma he offered to bring different chairs for her to try out. That kind of attention to detail makes me feel that even commenting on the wait for the menus somewhat churlish!

If you’re looking for a pub lunch just out of the city (or perhaps dinner, before going to Thebby Theatre), you could certainly do a lot worse than the Hotel Royal.

Hotel Royal on Urbanspoon

Robin Hood Hotel

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date of visit: Thursday 6 October 2011

As soon as I knew I was off to the Sapporo launch I started thinking about where we were going to eat our dinner. We would need something quick and light and close to the Robin Hood. After a little head scratching, it was decided that by far the easiest thing to do was to eat at the pub itself. Why I even had to think about that, I don’t know.

I met Andy in the bar but we headed to the dining room (sorry, bistro) to eat. The dining room is at the back of the pub and away from the bars, but looks into the beer garden through floor to ceiling windows so you get the pub atmosphere (and some natural light!) without the noise. We had a table at the window and set about reading the menu and making drinks decisions.

The original plan (“quick and light”) meant that initially we were focussed on things like the tapas and bar plates or on just ordering an entrée, but Andy had spotted sausages and mash on the specials board and I was torn between the entrée of lambs brain with mash, a crispy pepper rabbit salad and a main course of salt and pepper baby squid with lime aioli. As sausages and mash is definitely not light, I ended up opting for the squid.

This is correct: I was in a pub and I didn’t order a schnitzel. Which is not to say that the Robin Hood doesn’t offer them. A chicken or beef parmi will set you back $18.50. If the rest of the food is anything to go by then this is likely to represent pretty good value for money.

Andy’s sole criticism of his sausages and mash is that there wasn’t enough gravy. It looked like there was ample gravy to me so it may be that only gravy aficionados feel a little short changed. My plate of food was generous. The squid was tender and it was only once I headed towards the end of the plate that things started to feel a little greasy: the squid had obviously been cooked in hot, clean oil. I did think that both the ‘salt and pepper’ part of the squid and the aioli could have done with a slightly more intense flavour. Salt and pepper squid (or anything) I think is always better when done with szechuan pepper – it makes it more spicy and aromatic. The aioli definitely needed a hefty shot of lime in it. Overall it was a competent dish but could have been a more exciting and it was really let down by pretty average chips that were positively drowining in chicken salt. Next time I’m at the Robin Hood I’ll be ordering something else.

That all probably sounds more negative than it should. This was a better than average pub meal but it was a shame that just a few simple tweaks could have made it better than average full stop.

The Robin Hood is to be commended on a generous wine list with a very wide range of wines offered by the glass (although, with such a big by the glass list I hope they are taking care to store the opened wines properly). Service was also very good. It was prompt and friendly and the waiting staff obviously work with a degree of flexibility. I noticed our waiter dealing with a very large group adjacent to us and, at the start of their meal, they worked out exactly how the billing would work. It was good to see a practical approach to this rather than a blind adherence to venue policy.

Overall, the Robin Hood gets a big tick – definitely an above average pub dining experience.

Robin Hood Hotel on Urbanspoon

Robin Hood Hotel
315 Portrush Rd
Norwood SA 5067
+61 8 8333 0088

Morphett Arms Hotel

- Alex 4 Comments

 

 

date of visit:  Thursday 29 September 2011

Sorry – no picture of my schnitzel this time – I am self-conscious taking photos when out with friends!

A quick mid-week visit to a pub with a couple of friends.  I don’t know what made me do it, but I actually rang up and booked a table at the Morphett Arms.  I thought I was a bit silly, booking a table for 6pm on a Thursday night – after all, the pub dining room (sorry, it’s always a bistro these days!) will be empty.

It turns out it was extremely lucky that I booked a table, because even at that early hour the pub was busy.  And I don’t mean ticking over nicely, I mean really busy.  I suspect had we not had a reservation we might not have been eating.

The pub is reasonably basic – the dining room is dominated at one end by the salad bar, and everything is done out in various shades of neutral.  The clientele seems to fall into two distinct groups:  those who are somewhat older and family groups with children.  One of my friends commented we were far too young to be there – but we did have the baby in tow, so we sort of fitted in.

Not knowing how things worked, the first mistake we made was one of our party wandering off to find the bar and buy drinks.  At the Morphett Arms, drinks are table service, but when it comes to ordering food you have to order at the counter.  What most patrons do (that would be those familiar with the system) is arrive, order their food immediately and then sit down and have their drinks order taken. We were flapping around like complete novices – not sure where to get menus, not sure how to order our food, and having to turn away waiting staff who wanted to take a drinks order …

Menus in hand we were next completely flummoxed by the array of schnitzel toppings on offer. I know I only ever order a parmi, but Galaxiian? Princess? No explanation at all on the very basic printed, but laminated, menu. When we did go up to order, all was made clear: all the necessary details and the specials are all at the counter.

So we ended with beef schnitzels with gravy and the Galaxiian topping (a combination of onions and capsicums), and chicken schnitzels with Hawaiian and American toppings. Yes – I departed from the standard parmigiana because, at the Morphett Arms, a parmi is tomato sauce and cheese, but American adds the ham.

The food arrived promptly and the beef schnitzels were huge. The plates were decorated with a very token lettuce leaf – but all main courses do include the salad bar. By the time we’d all ploughed our way through schnitzels and chips there was no space for salad – but there was a generous selection of the pub standards: rice salad, pasta salad, green salad, beetroot, and so on.

The schnitzels themselves were good but I did think that the topping (on mine, at least) could have been a little more generous and extended the entire length and breadth of the schnitzel. The chips were pretty disappointing (even by the low standard I set for pub chips).

However, the real sting in the tail is that the schnitties at the Morphett Arms don’t fall into the cheap category – by the time you add your sauce you are looking at over $20 (most sauces are $2.50) which I think is too much for what is really a stock standard meal. While the Morphett Arms doesn’t appear to have a cheap schnitzel night, the pub does take the Entertainment Card (there’s a voucher in this year’s book for 25% off your entire bill, including drinks) and it also looks like it runs the occasional shop-a-docket promotion but if you’re paying full tote odds, I think it’s too expensive.

Service wise – things were definitely above average. Despite the busy dining room there were plenty of staff on and we had no problems sorting out drinks (once we’d worked out what we were doing!), organising a high chair or having any other needs attended to.

While this is definitely a venue I’d consider if I needed somewhere family friendly for a group, it won’t be my first stop for a schnitzel.